The Edible Gardener - New BBC2 Series with Alys Fowler, starts 7th April

cooking-mama

This programme is now available on iplayer,ive just started watching it.

Frugal_Mouse

I love the idea of a mixed veg and flower garden, it reminds me of an old-fashioned cottage garden. The pea shoots in a tray looked simple and cheap, I'll give that a try.

Watching the program gave me the idea of weaving some plant supports from my pear tree prunings. They are about 1 metre long and very bendy - has anyone tried this?

FM
x

Rummer

I have just watched this on the i-player (the first time I have ever used it!) and I really liked the way she approached things. In the past I have been so focused on having a productive garden and now I can see that you can combine productivity with beauty. Definately looking forward to seeing the other programmes in the series!

thesinginggardener

THE EDIBLE GARDEN is a new BBC 2 series that sees Alys Fowler living off her home-grown fruit, herbs and vegetables in her London garden.

Fowler first appeared on our TV screen through occassional films on BBC’s Gardeners’ World until she was promoted to be a regular co-presenter. She works well within the structure of Gardeners’ World but does she have what it takes to front her own 30 minute programme? Sadly she doesn’t and comes across more annoying than entertaining. Throughout the programme it was rare for her to look directly at the camera and therefore the connection with the viewer wasn’t established which undermined any authoritve knowledge she had.

The series was billed as being home-grown produce in a typical city garden but within ten minutes we are taken on a trip to visit a countryside garden and at this point the show loses its credibility. There is an over-long section which concentrates on Fowler and her friend building a bean frame out of branches from a nearby park.

Old cine-film effects are overused throughout the thirty minutes and within fifteen they were enough to bring own a headace.

Each week Fowler will focus on certain types of vegetables and this week peas and beans took centre stage. There was no explanation of any garden basis such as sow a seed twice the depth of its size or how often and when to water the growing seedling. Next week Fowler will look at salad vegetables but sadly this programme is so formatted that it will be more of the same and not as organic as the garden itself.

Overall, the programme just touched lightly on topics rather than being an informative guide to growing your own food. Sadly this programme doesn’t fill the gap which exsists on television at the moment for the home-grown gardener. I was hoping to see the garden version of ‘Grow Your Own Drugs’ (BBC 2, Tuesdays) but sadly it will be one of those series that will be forgotten due to its substance being loose and the style over-used.

The Edible Garden – sorry, The Forgettable Garden.

Petlamb

Well, I liked it.

Rummer

I second that !

elantan

I have to admit yeah it all looked lovely ... But I am a total newbie and I still don't feel confident enough to attempt beans which is apparently really easy ... I now know to pinch out due to black fly ... But I didn't see a close up of exactly what that is .... And she talks about things going well together ... So ok which flowers did she put next to the beans and why ... She just seemed to assume viewers would understand what she was doing ... Through only making passing referances to things I feel much more confused than ever ... Although I did look up permaculture afterwards and that was interesting

kimmee

elantan wrote: »

I have to admit yeah it all looked lovely ... But I am a total newbie and I still don't feel confident enough to attempt beans which is apparently really easy ... I now know to pinch out due to black fly ... But I didn't see a close up of exactly what that is .... And she talks about things going well together ... So ok which flowers did she put next to the beans and why ... She just seemed to assume viewers would understand what she was doing ... Through only making passing referances to things I feel much more confused than ever ... Although I did look up permaculture afterwards and that was interesting

I second this - I'll watch the rest of the series but it assumed more than a basic knowledge of growing veg, it wasn't aimed at total newbies more aimed at people who are veg growers who might like to grow produce amongst exisiting flower beds. It DID look lovely but a bit more explanation would have been beneficial to us newbies. Having said that I do like Alys and it didn't cater for people to whom money is no object IMHO.

Lotus-eater

I missed the first ten minutes and then watched it with my OH, I hadn't even realised, but my OH mentioned after watching most of it, that we hadn't really been told how to do anything!
It was interesting, but not informative, I shan't be worried if I miss it next time.

Someone I know is starting to grow beans for the first time, now and I know they were going to watch it to get the general idea, as they are nervous about it. I suspect they are even more confused now.

misskool

elantan wrote: »

I have to admit yeah it all looked lovely ... But I am a total newbie and I still don't feel confident enough to attempt beans which is apparently really easy ... I now know to pinch out due to black fly ... But I didn't see a close up of exactly what that is .... And she talks about things going well together ... So ok which flowers did she put next to the beans and why ... She just seemed to assume viewers would understand what she was doing ... Through only making passing referances to things I feel much more confused than ever ... Although I did look up permaculture afterwards and that was interesting

maybe like everything on the bbc now she is just flogging her book?

Her twee hippie style of doing everything drove me nuts